Lentil

A pulse crop, Lens culinaris, among the earliest plants domesticated by humans, cultivated in the Fertile Crescent alongside wheat, barley and pea from roughly eight thousand BC, part of the founding suite of Near Eastern agriculture. Lentils are grown for their small, lens-shaped seeds, an important source of protein in diets across South Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, and, like other legumes, the plant fixes nitrogen in the soil, making it valuable in crop rotation with cereals. Canada and India are the largest modern producers, together accounting for most of world production.